Republican Federation

The Republican Federation was the largest conservative political party of the French Third Republic, existing from 1903 to 1945. It was founded to gather the right-wing of the Opportunists and the liberal Orleanists rallied to the republic, and the party represented the republican bourgeoisie, who were connected to business circles and opposed to socialr eform. The party's views shifted more to the right during the Interwar period, and its religious right and ultranationalist wing were strengthened by the leftist electoral victory in 1924. Most of the party opposed cooperation with the centrist republicans, and, during World War II and the German occupation, many of its members accepted the traditional Catholicism, anti-communism, and conservative nationalism of Vichy France. In 1945, the National Center of Independents and Peasants (CNIP) was formed as the successor of the Republican Federation.